Israeli forces gunned down Wednesday a member of an armed group trying to infiltrate from Syria, Israeli sources said. Israeli troops patrolling the northeastern border area shot dead the man and captured another.
The two men were part of a commando trying to infiltrate Israel in the area where Israel borders Jordan and Syria, Israeli military sources said.
The gunmen opened fire on the patrol in the Hamat Gader area, a natural spring beside the Yarmuk river marking the border with Jordan and some 15 kilometres from Syria, Israeli military sources sources added, according to AFP.
The two men might have been Syrian soldiers, the Israeli army said following the incident.
A third gunman retreated into Syria, Israel Radio said. Israeli troops also came under small-arms fire from gunmen on the Syrian side of the border, but did not return fire, Israeli military sources added.
Damascus said later that three men - which it identified as a civilian and two Syrian policemen - had come under Israeli fire while trying to draw water in the disengagement zone, and charged Israel with violating a cease-fire agreement.
A Syrian army spokesman confirmed that a Syrian patrol fired back at the Israeli soldiers, adding that an investigation is underway "to take the suitable measures."
"As three Syrian citizens...including two policemen in sports clothes were heading for a stream at the junction of the Raqqad valley and the Yarmouk river to get drinking water, they were fired on from the Israeli side, leading to the martyrdom of one and the loss of another," SANA quoted the spokesman as saying.
A Syrian patrol returned fire, the spokesman said, describing the incident as a "violation of the disengagement agreement and an unjustified provocation". (Albawaba.com)
